Child Theology

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Well-Known Member

Here is an interesting piece from one of the workers at IBTS in Prague. What is your opinion.

Having returned from a Child Theology seminar which took place in London in early March, I’ve begun to observe more keenly the children amongst us and I wonder if we are putting them in our midst or simply ‘putting up’ with them in our midst.

The seminar in which I participated was hosted by the Child Theology Movement which has taken up the task of doing theology whilst keeping a child in the midst. It’s an intriguing thought, not to learn and do theology in order to teach children, but to learn and do theology with children in order to teach us. The seminar was directed primarily by Keith White and Haddon Willmer who are completing the final chapter of a book on doing theology whilst working through Matthew 18’s account of Jesus putting a child in the centre of the debating disciples and instructing them to learn from him/her.

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Active Member

This is from the Child Theology site, which was linked in the blog posted in the OP:

Jesus put a child in the centre of the disciples when they were having a theological argument about greatness in the kingdom of God. It is plain that Jesus thought the child's presence would give the disciples a clue to the essential truth they were missing.

Occasionally over the centuries, the child has disturbed theologians at work, but has not been in a position to shape theology consistently.

In Child Theology, we are invited to take good note of the child in the midst as we think about, for, to, from and with God in Christ. As we do that, we expect our theology to change for the better. In Child Theology, we embark afresh on the journey with Christ into the open secret of God in the world. <MORE>http://www.childtheology.org/new/

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I don't think that having the child when Jesus spoke was essential. Jesus did refer to children and he used practical ways to illustrate things, but I do not think one has to always have a child in the midst of theology.

It seems to be some kind of new gimmick like other gimmicks that people latch onto just to do something novel. God's word should be the core of "doing theology," not some kind of child-centered technique.

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Member

Jesus put a child in the centre of the disciples when they were having a theological argument about greatness in the kingdom of God. It is plain that Jesus thought the child's presence would give the disciples a clue to the essential truth they were missing.

Occasionally over the centuries, the child has disturbed theologians at work, but has not been in a position to shape theology consistently.

In Child Theology, we are invited to take good note of the child in the midst as we think about, for, to, from and with God in Christ. As we do that, we expect our theology to change for the better. In Child Theology, we embark afresh on the journey with Christ into the open secret of God in the world.

Click to expand...

Paul Tillich begins his Systematic Theology with the following passage:

Theology, as a function of the Christian church, must serve the needs of the church. A theological system is supposed to satisfy two basic needs: the statement of the truth of the Christian message and the interpretation of this truth for every new generation. Theology moves back and forth between two poles, the eternal truth of its foundation and the temporal situation in which the eternal truth must be received. . . .

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I think that we have to take children into account as we do theological work. Children are part of our churches even if they have not yet made a profession of faith. They sit in our church services, and they see and hear everything that goes on and is said. They sing hymns, listen to prayers and sermons (even if they are reading or coloring). So what concerns adults also concerns our children. That's what Tillich was talking about, "the interpretation of this truth [of the Christian message] for every new generation." If we are going to do that effectively, then we are going to have to give some attention to how we deal with our children.

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